Unit body vibrating screen with distortion free bearing assemblies

ABSTRACT

A vibrating screen is disclosed of unit body construction having a cylindrical vibrator housing welded on each end to vertical side walls of a screen body, to utilize the vibrator housing as a unitary part of the screen body. Bearing housing assemblies fitted to journal ends of a vibrator shaft in the housing, are provided with a collar connected to outer surfaces of the side walls around apertures defined therein in register with the cylindrical vibrator housing. Back bearing housing is provided with a cylindrical portion projecting along the central axis of the collar, inward of the adjacent side wall and into the adjacent end of the cylindrical vibrator housing to extend bearing support of the vibrator shaft to within the space between the side walls of the screen body. The cylindrical portion of the bearing housing is spaced radially inward of the vibrator housing along the entire axial length of the cylindrical portion of the bearing housing to provide a clearance around the entire circumference of the cylindrical portion of the bearing housing and isolate the cylindrical portion of the bearing housing from distortion of the vibrator housing.

United States Patent Hahn [54] UNIT BODY VIBRATING SCREEN WITHDISTORTION FREE BEARING ASSEMBLIES [72] Inventor: Mathew P. Hahn,Wauwatosa, Wis.

[73] Assignee: Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis.

22 Filed: Aug. 28, 1970 21 Appl. No.: 67,832

[52] A US. Cl ..209/326, 209/366.5 [51] Int. Cl. ..B07b 1/28 [58]. Fieldof Search ........209/366.5, 326, 332, 367

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,660,067 11/1953 Glover..209/3665 [451 Dec. 5, 1972 Primary Examiner-Tim R. MilesAtt0rneyArthur M. Streich, Robert B. Benson and John P. Hines [57]ABSTRACT I A vibrating screen is disclosed of unit body constructionhaving a cylindrical vibrator housing welded on each end to verticalside walls of a screen body, to utilize the vibrator housing as aunitary part of the screen body. Bearing housing assemblies fitted tojournal ends of a vibrator shaft in the housing, are provided with acollar connected to outer surfaces of the side walls around aperturesdefined therein in register with the cylindrical vibrator housing. Backbearing housing is provided with a cylindrical portion projecting alongthe central axis of the collar, inward of the adjacent side wall andinto the adjacent end of the cylindrical vibrator housing to extendbearing support of the vibrator shaft to within the space between theside walls of the screen body. The cylindrical portion of the bearinghousing is spaced radially inward of the vibrator housing along theentire axial length of the cylindrical portion of the bearing housing toprovide a clearance around the entire circumference of the cylindricalportion of the bearing housing and isolate the cylindrical portion ofthe bearing housing from distortion of the vibrator housing.

1 Claim, 2 Drawing Figures UNIT BODY VIBRATING SCREEN WITH DISTORTIONFREE BEARING ASSEMBLIES CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONThis application discloses an invention applied to a vibrating screenwhich is also the subject of my copending United States patentapplication entitled Unit Body Vibrating Screen, Ser. No. 67,831 filedconcurl rently with this application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION No. 2,313,765 of 1943; US. Pat. No.2,702,634 of 1955; and US. Pat. No.'2,75l,080 of 1956. Each of thesepatents disclose such a screen in which a massive drive shaft isjournaled in bearing assemblies which are in turn journaled in a housingaround the drive shaft with at least part of an axially extendingexternal cylindrical surface of the bearing assemblies fitted to anaxially extending internal cylindrical surface of the housing. Thehousing, the bearing assemblies or both are connected to side walls ofthe screen body and with any such arrangements the drive shaft, thebearing assemblies and the housing, are carried by the screen body. Whensuch an assembly is connected to the side walls by, for example, acircular array of bolts, considerable care is required to avoid uneventightening of the bolts which is one potential cause of distortion ofthe inner circumference of the housing and deformation of the bore ofthe bearing assemblies which can lead to premature bearing failure.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION It is an object of the presentinvention to provide a new and improved vibratory screen having a driveshaft, drive shaft bearings and a drive shaft housing, with the driveshaft carrying bearing assemblies isolated from distortion of the driveshaft housing.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a'vibratoryscreen of new and improved unit body construction having a high degreeof strength coupled with economical construction and ease of assembly.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention forachieving such objects, a vibrating screen is provided with acylindrical vibrator housing projecting on each of its ends intoapertures defined in adjacent vertical side walls of the screen body,with the vibrator housing welded to the side walls to be a unitary partof a screen body of great strength which carries therein a drive shaftand bearings. Bearing housing assemblies fitted to journal ends of thedrive vibrator shaft in the housing, are provided with a collarconnected to outer surfaces of the side walls around the aperturesdefined therein, in register with the cylindrical vibrator housing. Eachbearing housing is provided with a cylindrical portion projecting alongthe central axis of the collar inward of the adjacent side wall and intothe adjacent end of the cylindrical vibrator housing to extend bearingsupport of the vibrator shaft to within the space between the side wallsof the screen body. The cylindrical portion of the bearing housing isspaced radially inward of the vibrator housing along-its entire axiallength to provide a clearance around the entire 0 circumference of thecylindrical portion of the bearing housing to isolate the cylindricalportion of the bearing housing from distortion of the vibrator housing.

Other features and objects of the invention that have been attained willappear from the more detailed description to follow with reference to anembodiment of the present invention shown in the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I of the accompanying drawingshows aside elevation of a vibratory screen according to the presentinvention; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary view partly in section taken along line lIII inFIG. 1' and viewing the structure in the direction indicated by arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1 a vibratingscreen is shown having a screen body 10 supported by springs 11 whichare mounted on stationary support structures. The upper ends of springs11 are connected to the screen body 10 and the screen body is supportedat an incline to a horizontal plane placing a feed end 12 at a higherlevel than a discharge end 13. A vibrator drive shaft 14 is carried bythe screen body 10 midway between the feed and discharge ends l2, 13.The drive shaft 14 is driven by a motor 15 through belts 16 connected todrive a pulley 17 mounted on one end of drive shaft 14. The screen body10 is shown as being provided with two decks or screen surfaces 18.

Referring to FIG. 2 it is shown that the screen body 10 comprises a pairof horizontally spaced vertical side walls 20 and 21 having innersurfaces 22, 23 facing toward each other and outer surfaces 24, 25facing away from each other. Each side wall includes an annular ring 26,27 defining apertures 28, 29. The apertures 28, 29 are aligned inhorizontal and vertical register. A cylindrical vibrator housing 30 isprovided having an end portion projecting into each of the apertures 28,29 and a midportion spanning the space between the side walls 20, 21.The ends of the vibrator housing 30 are connected to side walls 20, 21by welds 32, 33 connect,- ing the outer circumference of the vibratorhousing 30 to the inner surfaces 22, 23 of the adjacent side walls 20,21; and by welds 34, 35 connecting the inner circumference of theaperture defining rings 26, 27 to adjacent ends of the vibrator housing30. The vibrator drive shaft 14 is arranged within the cylindricalvibrator housing 30. The drive shaft 14 may be constructed as disclosedin US. Pat. No. 2,292,327, with journals 36, 37 which are concentric tothe vibrator housing 30. Bearing housing assemblies 40, 41 are mountedon the journals 36, 37 and are connected to the screen body side walls20, 21. Each of the bearing assemblies 40, 41 is provided with anannular collar 44 having a vertical surface 45 engaging an outer surface24, 25 of side walls 20, 21. A plurality of bolts 46 are spaced aroundthe collar 44 and connect the collar to the adjacent side wall 20, 21 inregister with the annular rings 26, 27. Each of the bearing assemblies40, 41 is also provided with a cylindrical portion 48 projectingparallelto' an axis XX' central of the collars 44, inward of an adjacentof the side walls 20, 21 and into an adjacent end of the cylindricalvibrator housing 30. Bearings 50 are carried within the cylindricalportions 48 and the bearings 50 carry the journals 36, 37 of shaft 14.The axially inward projection of the cylindrical portions 48 supportsthe bearings 50 inward of walls 20, 21 thereby extending support forshaft 14 to within the space between the side walls 20, 21 of thescreenbody 10. The cylindrical portion 48 of each bearing assembly 40, 41 isspaced radially inward of the vibrator housing 30 along the entire axiallength of the cylindrical portions 48 and provides a clearance 52 aroundthe entire circumference of the cylindrical portion 48 of each bean ingassembly.

The shaft 14 projects on both ends axially outward of the bearingassemblies 40,41, to provide shaft end portions 54. The end portions 54have a central axis Y--Y' which is eccentric to the central axis XX'through the bearing assemblies 40, 41. A wheel 55 is mounted on eachofthe end portions54 and the pulley 17 is concentrically attached to oneof the wheels 55. Eccentric mass is built into shaft 14 and/or attachedto wheels 55 as weights S6 to locate a center of counterbalancing masson an axis ZZ to counterbalance the mass of the screen. A center of massof the screen lies on axis XX', which is central to bearing housings 40,41 and which are in turn located between the ends 12, 13 of the screento make it the mass axis of the screen. Sufficient counterbalancing massis provided and arranged to cause pulley 17 to run true, i.e., to turnabout its axis Y-Y' with axis Y-Y' fixed in space. With the axis YYfixed in space by counterbalancing mass in shaft 14, weights 56 or acombination of the two, the screen moves in a circular path about theaxis Y-Y. The radius of such a circular path (called the radius ofgyration) is equal to the distance between the axes XX' and Y-Y.

In the assembly of a screen according to the described embodiment, theends of vibrator housing 30 are inserted into the .apertures 28, 29defined by the annular rings 26, 27 which are made an integral part ofside walls 20, 21. Welds 32-35 are applied making vibrator housing 30 anintegral unitary part of the screen body 10. The drive shaft 14 isarranged to position journals 36, 37 and bearing assemblies 40, 41concentric to the vibrator housing 30 and the bolts 46 connect theannular collar 44 of each bearing assembly 40, 41, to the adjacent ofthe annular rings 26, 27. When power is applied to the motor 15, thebelts 16 turn pul ley 17 and rotate drive shaft 14 about axis Y-Y'. Themass of the screen represented by the axis XX and the mass of thecounterweight represented by axis Z Z, both trace circular paths aboutaxis Y-Y concentric to the vibrator housing 30 and concentric to thewelds 3235 which make housing 30 an integral unitary part of screen body10. The clearance 52 isolates the axially extending cylindrical portions48 of bearing asing operation of the screen.

From the foregoing detailed description of the present invention it hasbeen shown how the objects of the present invention have been attainedin a preferred manner. However, modification and equivalents of thedisclosed concepts such as readily occur tothose skilled in the art areintended to be included in the scope of this invention. Thus, the scopeof the invention is intended to be limited only by the scope of theclaims such as are or may hereafter be, appended hereto.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege isclaimed are defined as follows:

1. In a vibrating screen arranged to gyratev about a having innersurfaces facing toward each other and outer surfaces facing away fromeach other and each side wall defining an aperture therethrough, saidapertures being in horizontal and vertical-register, acylindricalvibrator housing axially aligned with the side wall aperturesand having a midportion spanning the space between the side walls, avibrator drive shaft arranged within the cylindrical vibrator housinghaving a journal on each end concentric to the vibrator housing, and abearing housing assembly mounted around each journal and connected tothe screen body, the improvement comprising:

A. the cylindrical vibrator housing having an end portion connected toeach aperture defining side wall;

B. each bearing housing having a vertical surface adjacent and connectedto the outer side of theadjacent aperture defining side wall to supportthe bearing housing and drive shaft relative to the vibrator housing andside walls;

C. each bearing housing being provided with a cylindrical portionprojecting axially inward of the adjacent side wall and into theadjacent end of the cylindrical vibrator housing with the cylindricalportion of the bearing housing being spaced radially inward of thevibrator housing along the entire axial length of said cylindricalportion of the bearing housing and providing a clearance therebetweenaround the entire circumference thereof isolating the cylindricalportion of the bearing housing from distortion of the vibrator housing;

D. the end portions of the cylindrical vibrator housing project into theaperture defined by the side wall to which the ends of the housing areconnected; and

E. the end portions of the cylindrical vibrator housing are connected tothe side walls by a weld connecting the outer circumference of thevibrator housing to the inner surface of the adjacent side wall and by aweld connecting the inner circumference of the side wall definedaperture to the adjacent end of the vibrator housing.

1. In a vibrating screen arranged to gyrate about a horizontal axis ofgyration and having a screen body with a pair of horizontally spacedvertical side walls having inner surfaces facing toward each other andouter surfaces facing away from each other and each side wall definingan aperture therethrough, said apertures being in horizontal andvertical register, a cylindrical vibrator housing axially aligned withthe side wall apertures and having a midportion spanning the spacebetween the side walls, a vibrator drive shaft arranged within thecylindrical vibrator housing having a journal on each end concentric tothe vibrator housing, and a bearing housing assembly mounted around eachjournal and connected to the screen body, the improvement comprising: A.the cylindrical vibrator housing having an end portion connected to eachaperture defining side wall; B. each bearing housing having a verticalsurface adjacent and connected to the outer side of the adjacentaperture defining side wall to support the bearing housing and driveshaft relative to the vibrator housing and side walls; C. each bearinghousing being provided with a cylindrical portion projecting axiallyinward of the adjacent side wall and into the adjacent end of thecylindrical vibrator housing with the cylindrical portion of the bearinghousing being spaced radially inward of the vibrator housing along theentire axial length of said cylindrical portion of the bearing housingand providing a clearance therebetween around the entire circumferencethereof isolating the cylindrical portion of the bearing housing fromdistortion of the vibrator housing; D. the end portions of thecylindrical vibrator housing project into the aperture defined by theside wall to which the ends of the housing are connected; and E. the endportions of the cylindrical vibrator housing are connected to the sidewalls by a weld connecting the outer circumference of the vibratorhousing to the inner surface of the adjacent side wall and by a weldconnecting the inner circumference of the side wall defined aperture tothe adjacent end of the vibrator housing.